The Egyptian government expected the national
economy to achieve a growth rate of 4.2 percent by the end of the year.

If achieved, it would be one of the best growth
rates worldwide.

The fresh forecast was one of proactive scenarios
the government’s economic ministerial group was keen to develop to deal with
the current crisis resulting from ramifications of the novel coronavirus in the
long run.

In a statement issued by the Cabinet’s media
office, Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouli said the government should be ready
with precautionary and proactive measures to ensure that the Egyptian economy
would not suffer a negative impact harming gains achieved by the economic
reform program.

The premier was holding a meeting with Governor of
the Central Bank of Egypt Tarek Amer, Minister of Planning and Economic
Development Hala el Saeed, Minister of Finance Mohamed Maait, Minister of
International Cooperation Rania al Mashat and Minister of State for Information
Osama Hekal.

Madbouli expected Egypt’s business climate to be
back to normal by June, expressing hope that the economy would rapidly recover
from ramifications the whole world is going through due to the coronavirus
outbreak.

All international institutions have trust in Egypt
thanks to the great efforts made by the state over the past four years since
the launch of the economic reform program, he pointed out.

These international institutions hasten to support
Egypt in order to ensure the continued success of its economic program, which
is considered a “model” to be followed by the developing counties, he
added.

The prime minister stressed that the state and
economic group are keen to build on these gains by taking all proactive
measures in a way that guarantees Egypt’s continued recovery.

At the beginning of the current year, the
government sought a new program with the IMF, only covering the technical
support aspect, but after the coronavirus fallout, there is an urgent need for
financial support as well, he added.

The Egyptian economy has managed to withstand
thanks to measures taken over the past four years. But the government prepares
for the future, and takes a precautionary step to avoid any repercussions, so
it will start discussions with the IMF over the executive steps within few
days, he added.

For his part, the CBE governor said that the
Egyptian banking sector has regained much of its power during the past years,
and has advantages that made it able now to play a major role in the current
crisis.

The sector’s solid situation has enabled it to
support the public and private sectors as well as citizens, Amer said.

The IMF is very enthusiastic to support the
Egyptian economy that enjoys great credibility because of the outstanding
success of the country’s economic program, he said.

The new one-year program will allow us to benefit
from the new financing, he added.

The Egyptian economy and its performance
indicators were at their best until the beginning of March 2020 before the
coronavirus crisis, the planning minister said.

The Egyptian economy enjoys flexibility and
diversity, Saeed added.

We expect that the Egyptian economy will achieve a
4.2 percent growth rate by the end of this year, to be one of the best growth
rates globally, as a result of the measures taken by the government to support
sectors affected by this crisis, the minister said.

We are open to mull the post-coronavirus global
economy structure with the national academic community, civil society and the
private sector, she added.

The Egyptian state has already invested in some
sectors, such as information technology, Saeed said, adding that the health,
pharmaceutical and medical sectors will have priority too.

Egypt, through the Ministry of International
Cooperation, has several cooperation initiatives with the World Bank, the
African Development Bank, the European Investment Bank, and other international
agencies and institutions, the international cooperation minister said.

She added that the funding packages received from
international institutions are less costly than any other financing
forms.